Generally speaking, it is known that a sliding board is exposed to many vibration phenomena. Such vibration is due to the fact that the board moves over a surface having irregularities causing the end of the board to rise because of its relative flexibility. Gravity tends to attract the end of the board downwards, thus causing chattering phenomena. Such phenomena may continue over varying lengths of time depending on the mechanical properties of the board and in particular its stiffness and damping.
It is understandable that these hammering phenomena are not helpful in the accurate control of the board, the reason why damping devices have already been proposed to limit the scale and above all the duration of the vibration phenomena at the front tip of the board.
An interesting solution was proposed in document FR 1 407 710, describing a ski fitted with a damping system comprising an arm one end of which is integral with a fixed point in the front zone of the ski. The rear part of this arm is integral with a device comprising a damping component which may consist of a rubber block. When the front tip of the ski moves, the rigid arm compresses the rubber component at the opposite end of the arm. However, the principle described in this document does not optimize the performance of the shock absorber in terms of movement amplitude and of the amount of energy dissipated during the compression of the rubberized material. A similar solution described in the document US2004/0178606 consists in having the rubber block operate by shearing, by giving it shapes to facilitate the deformation of protruding portions. However, behavior like this is not totally satisfactory because the damping is relatively linear and not progressive.